He is gone and won't be coming back
by Opalowl13
Summary: When Pitch Black kidnaps Jack Frost, and right under Bunny's nose, how will everyone react? Jack is made into his slave, and comes back into the picture 200 years later, obedient as a whipped dog. What happened to the Jack we know and love?
1. Chapter 1

Pitch Black. A fearsome character, but he does have his redeeming qualities. Or at least, that's what they thought. They thought that, until they saw this...

Jack Frost stared around him in wonder as he emerged from the ice. What is this, he thought. A world so cold and, and beautiful. Little did he know that Pitch was watching him. A nightmare had alerted him to the strange goings on at the lake, so he came immediately. An slightly evil smile graved his lips as he stared at the mischievous young winter sprite stumbling around, trying out his new powers. His astonishment at the world around him amused Pitch. Soon my pet, he thought to Jack. Soon.

 **Many years later**

 **Blizzard of '68, Easter Sunday**

Jack grinned as he raced around, spreading snow through the town. The beauty of the sparkle of the freshly fallen snow made him love his job even more than normal. This burst of happiness gave his powers an unexpected boost. The look of joy in his eyes was replaces by one of fear, his staff adding and adding snow clouds to the skys above, slowly creeping across the moon. The snow clouds started doing what they were meant to do, snow. Meanwhile, k was trying to switch off his staff. "Come on you stupid thing," he growled though gritted teeth. "Come on!" With one last surge of fpocus, it stopped snowing, but the damage had been done. Snow covered everything. It muffled all spoumd, so that all Jack could hear was the in and pout of his breath.

It certainly did not let him hear the soft padding of footsteps behind him until a voice said, "What do you think you're doing mate? Its Easter! Not one of your silly 'snow days.'"

With a frightened look in his eyes, although he did a good job of masking it, he said, "Oh, really?"

"Yes really," the oversized bunny growled from behind him. He grabbed Jack by his shoulders and spun him around, grinning when he fell in the cold, wet snow. "I can't believe you ruined this. I get one day a year, _one day!,_ and you take it away from me. Soon, all the kids will start their egg hunts, only to relize that there are no eggs." This last bit he hissed, leaning toward Jack and ignoring the flinch away from him. "There will be less believers, and it will be all. Your. Fault."

Jack flinched again, hearing this. "I just" he started to say before being cut off again.

"No! Stop. You are an idiot. Worthless. Wanted by none. And that is all you will every be!" The Easter Bunny turned around sadly and walked away, leaving Jack with his thoughts.

"Idiot. Worthless. Wanted by none. And that is all you will every be," the Bunny's voice echoed in his mind and he started to cry. Not just a few tears, but a cascade of them running town his face, none of them reaching the ground before freezing.

Pitch grinned as he listened to the crying. "Now is the time!" he said, rising from his hiding place and wrapping Jack up in a stand of nightmare sand. But before he but put a gag on, Jack cried out. "Bunny! Help! He-" he screamed until he was once again cat off. He whimpered in his gag and, refusing to look at Pitch, he closed his eyes shut and repeated endlessly in his mind, 'Bunny will come. Bunny will come. Bunny will come.'

The Easter Bunny spun around after hearing the crys for helping. "Idiot," he mumbled under his breath, but he couldn't ignore a child's fear, so he started moving fast-ish towards Jack. When he arrived, he took a sharp intake of breath. "Let him go," he shouted at Pitch, leaping towards him with all his power, but Pitch simply laughed and dragged Jack into a shadow and they disappeared. The one thing that Bunny remembers the most is the mixture of pleading to be helped, and surprise that Bunny actually came. That broke his heart.

 **Hey people! I'm so sorry about my other stories, but I am discontinuing them for now. Nomne of them really interest me, so I really am sorry.**

 **On a nicer note, I got a much longer chapter done! 689 words vs. 55? I would really like to hear what you think!**

 **(What makes me really happy is that all this was done on mobile!)**


	2. Chapter 2

North looked up at the globe, seeing something that he hoped to never see again. "Pitch Black," he growled softly under his breath. The black sand, meant to be the opposite of Sandy's, wound around the globe, completely covering it. Then it all exploded off and reformed into a different shape. A human shape. He glared at the sand, and when out finally disappeared, he smirked and pulled a lever. E northern lights spread put across the globe, finding and beckoning to Tue other four guardians.

When they arrived at the North Pole, they looked confused. "Why did you call us North?" asked Tooth.

"Yeah mate," its almost Easter and I still need to finish the eggs," Bunny added, gesturing to the paintbrush and egg in his large, furry paws.

"It's Pitch," North gasped out. "He was here."

This news seemed to affect Bunny more than the rest. "He's what?" he said in a faint tone. "I thought he had disappeared after..." He buried his face in his paws, overwhelmed by the memory of Jacks kidnap. As Tooth and North rushed to comfort Bunny, Sandy noticed the moon shining more brightly than normal. He tried to get the other's attention, but they were too distracted to notice the wild symbols above his head. Finally, and idea came to him. He grasped an elf by the hat and shook him, hard.

The other guardians looked over irritated. "What is it Sandy?" North asked. Sandy rolled his eyes and pointed up at the moon. North gasped. "Man in Moon!" he said in an excited tone. The rushed over to a panel in the floor where MiM could talk to them. "Its been a long time old friend," North boomed. "Any wisdom in this hard time?"

A shadow of Pitch appeared on the stone. North shot a glance at the others, which clearly said, Told ya. Then, to their surprise, the panel opened up. "A new guardian," they gasped in unison. A image began to take shape. Of a boy. A young boy with pure white hair.

Bunny gasped in shock as he saw the image. "Jack?" he said in a broken voice. "I thought he was dead."

"We all did," Tooth said comfortingly.

"Then where-" North said slowly. "Where has he been for so long?"

* * *

 **In Pitch's lair**

Jack had his head down, unable to look in Pitch's eyes. "Yes master," he mumbled as he took back the food he had brought for Pitch. "I'll do better next time master."

"You'd better," Pitch grumbled, but when he looked down at Jack, his eyes shone with malice. "Now pet, do you remember the punishment for not obeying perfectly?"

In the same monotone voice, Jack answered, "A burn master."

"Correct," he replied. "Now come to the punishment room," he said, his voice oozing with fake sweetness. "I have a new way for us to try this."

Jack nodded and followed his master. There was no reaction besides the fact that his eyes widened in fear. Just then, a nightmare galloped up to Pitch, whispering in his ear. "Forget the punishment," Pitch said. "I have a better way to spend our time." He whistled and thousands upon thousands of nightmares came rushing in from everywhere, every room in the lair, every little child's room. "Its time to put your talents to use," Pitch said. "Infuse your talent into them!"

Jack looked up through his bangs. "Yes master," he said softly. He spread out his hands and concentrated. Soon, ice was shooting out of his fingers, but instead of freezing the nightmares, they just took on a blue shine.

"Perfect!" Pitch said with a evil grin. "Now no one can stop them!"

* * *

Tooth grimaced as her eyes opened wide in fear. "Palace. Now," was all she would say as they stepped in the sleigh. Bunny had his doubts about riding on the sleigh, but one look at Tooth's face made him keep them to himself.

Once they arrived, they were horrified to discover that nightmares were swarming the building. In the center of the chaos stood Pitch, cackling. He looked down at the small broken figure below him. Jack had a collar of black nightmare sand on him, a sign of Pitch's ownership of him, that was chained to a pole. He looked up at the guardians quickly before looking away in fear.

Once again, he was reminded of Bunny's words. Idiot. Worthless. Wanted by none. And that is all you will every be!" Jack blinked back a tear and looked at the floor.

Bunny gasped. "Jack?" he said in a whisper, barely holding on to the hope that they had found him. "Is that you?".

Jack, unable to not answer a direct question or order from fear of a broken bone, nodded fearfully.

Making a few signs with his hands, Bunny checked to see if everyone had figured out the plan. They nodded, so he put it into action. He started talking, taunting Pitch as he edged closer to him, keeping his attention off Jack. While Bunny did that, North and Tooth started fighting the nightmares. However tired Tooth was, she would be a queen to her dying breath.

While all this was going on, Jack was sitting hunched against the pole, when he suddenly felt someone pick him up. He flinched and looked to see that it was Sandy. Sandy removed the chain, then tried to remove the collar. He failed, and with a worried look on his face, he grabbed Jack and stepped through a portal back to the North Pole.

"That's my cue," said Bunny with a wink. He pounded the ground with his foot and promptly disappearing through a hole, a pink spring flower coming up from where he used to be.

"Ta ta," North said as he grabbed Tooth and jumped through the portal.

"Noooooo," Pitch screamed. "Why do you always ruin my plans?" He stomped through a shadow portal.

 **Yes! 1003 words in this story! This makes me feel so accomplished. Also guys, thanks for the 3 favsand the 5 follows! It means so much to me!**

 **Review replies**

Ugly-Duckling123- **Yeah, sorry about that. I have to do this on my kindle because the the computer broke. Thanks for the follow and fav though!**


	3. Chapter 3

Th golden sand making up the portal made Jack cough. The only type of sand that he had come in contact with for a long time was the toxic black sand. He had managed to get used to it, and the pure sand he was surrounded with was a harsh difference. As Sandy stepped out of the swirling sand, he immediately set Jack down. Touching Sandy for a prolonged period of time was starting to give him a rash.

After Sandy set Jack down, Tooth started fluttering above him. "Oh my goodness!" she gasped. "Is he alright? He doesn't look as pale as he should. Maybe I should go find some snow?" Her face brightened for a split second. "Ooh! I hope that his teeth are still just as pearly white as ever!" She took a quick peek before blanching away. "I'm going to go find some snow," she said faintly. "I'll just..." she gestured vaguely toward the door before flying out at full speed.

It turns out that Pitch had been putting the sand inside of Jack, attempting to turn him into a creature of the dark sand. And it was starting to work. Looking closely, it was possible to see a few black strands of hair and his teeth were starting to take on a grayish tinge. More concerning, the tips of his ears were an alarming shade of grey. Just as Bunny showed up from out of the ground, Jack collapsed on the ground. Bunny looked at sand frantically taking in the red rash blooming across the immortal's skin with one glance. "What happened?" he asked quickly. "Is he hurt?"

Sandy shook his head, a few symbols appearing above his head. Bunny nodded his head slowly, deciphering what Sandy was trying to say. "So you're saying that he..." He paused, shaking his head. "North is always so much better at this than me. Wait five minutes and tell him. He can translate." Sandy appeared to be satisfied with that plan, nodding his head before looking down. He gestured toward Jack in a 'what do we do with hi' kind of manner, and this time Bunny was able to understand.

"I'll take him to my room and tell the yetis to turn down the heat." He cradled Jack in his arms. "North has to be back any second now."

The second Bunny stepped out of earshot, North's sleigh appeared on the horizon. It came to a sudden halt in front of Sandy, and North quickly got out. "Where is the boy?" he boomed. He didn't mean to explode the eardrums of a few faeries that were nearby, it just sort of happened. "Is the boy okay? Where did Tooth and Bunny get to? We have important business to discuss!"

A flurry of symbols appeared above Sandy's head. North instantly knew what thy meant, unlike Bunny.

"Good!" he exclaimed. "We will wait for Tooth to return, then go meet Bunny and Jack!" His face turned somber. "We will hope for some recovery."

Soon enough, Tooth can zipping back into the room with much of her usual vigor and a sackful of snow. "Wren lent me her sack!" she said, proudly showing it off. Tooth and Wren both had very mothering instincts, causing Tooth to bond quickly to the gigantic yeti. "Wren said that she was going to go check on Jack. We're going there next, right? she asked, bouncing up and down as she did so.

"Good idea!" North said, loudly of course. "Come!" He strode off down a long corridor, only going a short way before coming to a sudden halt. He turned to Sandy. "Where did you say Bunny had taken Jack?" Sandy sighed, but told North that Bunny had taken Jack to his room again. "Ah!" North said, before turning around and going back the way they had come. They turned down a different passage, coming up on Bunny's room soon after.

North threw open the door, ready to congratulate Bunny on the excellent rescue plan, but stopped short at what he saw. Bunny was sitting next to the bed where Jack way laying with his head in his paws and tears silently slipping down his face.

"Oh," Tooth gasped, her hand involuntarily reaching up toward her mouth. She flew up next to Bunny, landing at his side. "It's not your fault Bunny. It never was. I know you blame yourself, but there was nothing you could do and you are doing all you can to help now."

Bunny shook his head. "But if I wasn't such a-" He stopped, trying to find the right word.

Before he could say anything, North interrupted. "You are a great friend to me." He spread his arms wide. "To all of us. You will be invaluable when it comes to Jack's recovery."

Bunny's eyes now glistened with a different type of tears. "Thank you," he said in a voice raspy for crying. "I don't know what I would do without you."

North pulled Sandy in toward Bunny as well, enveloping both of them and Tooth into a large hug. "We will help each other through this," North whispered, quiet for once. "Jack will not have to go through this alone. We will become an even closer family."

Bunny pulled back attempting to make light of at least part of the situation. "So you would be the dad and Tooth would be the mom..."

The two in question looked at each other and blushed. "Shush you," North grumbled. "You would be the irresponsible son." Sandy's symbols appeared in a quick flash. "You would be the strange uncle," North said, holding back a laugh. Sandy managed an affronted look, and North, Bunny, and Tooth laughed at his expense.

Just then however, they heard a soft groan come from the mattress next to them.

 **Thanks for the support! I was honestly not expecting anyone to like this. My writing is a bit rushed on this story, and I don't really know how good my grammar currently is with it being two in the morning, but I wanted to get this out. Thanks again!**


	4. Chapter 4

An- I was just fixing a few things. Expect the next chapter to be out by next weekend!

Bunny immediately rushed over to look at Jack. He was even paler than normal and his hands were shaking slightly. The only reassurance that Bunny had was the fact that the black strands reaching up his neck hadn't gotten even worse. Tears started to well up in Bunny's eyes again as he surveyed the damage.

The rest of the Guardians had been hanging back, trying to give Aster time to collect himself, but when she saw the wetness on his face, Tooth rushed forward to smother him in a hug. "Shhh," she hushed him as he choked back sobs yet again. "I promise you, this wasn't your fault. We will stop Pitch and fix Jack. Everything will be back to normal soon enough. Just snap out of it right now. We have to wake Jack up in order to help him."

Steeling himself Bunny nodded. He tightly gripped one of Tooth's tiny hands with his large furry paw and glanced backward for reassurance that North and Sandy were still there. After taking another deep breath, he gently shook Jack's shoulder.

"Frostbite," he said gently. "We need you to wake up." Jack shifted uncomfortably, but didn't wake up. Aster tried again, this time shaking slightly harder. That was the nudge that it took to get Jack awake. The problem was that he was a little too awake. Jack bolted upright, glancing around frantically as though looking for a threat.

When he spotted the guardians, his posture immediately grew more rigid. He opened and closed his hands a few times before whispering in a voice nearly too quiet and hoarse for the guardians to hear. "Wind," he said. "Help, please." With that he was swept upward quickly. Then, slightly louder he whispered, "Please don't hurt me."

Bunny looked horror stuck. "Frostbite," he whispered sadly. "I never meant to."

That was when Jack's eyes locked specifically on Bunny. Before, he had just been scared at the fact that there was a large presence looming over him. Now, he had an actual thing to be scared of. His eyes widened in fear and he was suddenly gone. He disappeared out the door and down the hallway. Close to hyperventilating, he bolted, continuing down the winding passageways for several minutes before Wind put him down gently in a isolated corner. He could hear the loud banging and calls from the direction he had come from, but he stayed silent.

Taking a moment to collect himself, he slowly eased the oncoming panic attack. "Why is he here?" Jack wondered, mumbling to himself. "He left me. He thought that I deserved to be taken by Pitch. He wanted me to be captured." These whispered words were in an attempt to reassure himself. If Bunny hadn't let him be captured, then that meant that his childhood hero was powerless to save him. He thought that Bunny just hadn't wanted to save him at the time. If Aster had known Jack better, he told himself, he would have protected him.

During his younger years as a spirit, Jack used to follow Bunny around on Easter, relishing in the happiness that he brought to the children. If only Aster had looked at Jack like he looked at the children. If only he had been shown attention in the 200 years he had been alive. Or dead. Jack didn't know the best way to describe what he was. But Bunny was the first one to interact with him after 200 years, and Jack knew that he had messed it up. The thing is, Jack is a seasonal spirit. He automatically knew that it was his job to spread winter. Sure, he might have some fun while doing it, but the Earth had suffered the the hundred years he had been with Pitch. During the Easter of '68, that town had been due for a snowfall.

Bunny hadn't wanted to listen. He assumed that Jack was messing with him. Assuming the worst, Jack sighed. Everyone would always assume the worst. No matter what. Whenever a nightmare had broken something in Pitch's lair, Jack had been blamed.

He lifted up one of his sleeves, looking down at the resulting punishment of one of those times. In his anger, Pitch had nearly cut his hand off. Thankfully, Pitch had realized what he was doing before he got too deep, but there was still a large scar stretching across his wrist. Pitch had grabbed him by his hair after the incident, muttering about useless winter spirits. Pitch had dragged Jack outside and thrown him into a small pile of snow. He left him there for a few hours, long enough for the wound to not be life threatening, and then he dragged him back from where he had been blissfully asleep, buried in the snow. In punishment for trying to sleep off the punishment, he was thrown into a burning room and left there for a couple of days. Jack had lost track of time through the againy of this. He quickly learned not to sleep when he wasn't allowed. Now. he barely ever had to sleep.

But it had been so long since he had had a small nap, he thought to himself. Why couldn't he sleep here for like twenty minutes? Wind would wake him up is any of the guardians came close. With that thought in his mind, he fell asleep curled up in a corner of North's workshop.

Downstairs, the guardians were frantically looking for the missing spirit. "Phil!" North called gruffly. "Phil!" The yeti couldn't arrive fast enough for North, and Phil was met with a glare when he arrived. "Phil! Have you seen Jack?"

When Phil looked at North confusedly, North sighed. "Winter spirit? White hair? I mean, it had a grayish tinge currently, but still!"

Phil shrugged, saying something in the language that only North and the other yetis seemed to understand. He lumbered off, and North turned toward Tooth, Bunny, and Sandy. "Phil said that he will keep an eye out, as well as inform the other yetis and the elves of the search. It is top priority right now!" He yelled after the disappearing yeti. Phil just waved a hand over his shoulder to indicate that he had heard.

After another ten minutes of searching they heard the loud roar of a yeti and rushed to see if he had found Jack.

AN- Sorry for the long wait! Volleyball is finally over, so I might be able to update more consistently, but I don't really know. Many type of advice is loved, thanks for reading!


	5. Chapter 5

An- Yeah, I know. I'm a liar. I seriously did not mean for it to take this long. School stuff came up, and you all know how that works. Well, here you go. Sorry if it isn't good.

When they arrived at the scene, they found the yeti holding his foot, jumping in place and still bellowing. "Did you stub your toe?" Bunny asked incredulously. He shook his head and started to hop away. Stupid yetis. They were always wasting his time. Jack was more important that some stupid minor injury. A large paw landing on his shoulder, spinning him around, stopped him in his tracks, and he was met with Phil's furious glare at being disregarded like that. He grunted again, pointed upward. All four guardians looked up to see Jack sleeping in a chair that happened to be floating in the top corner of the room.

Tooth instantly flew up there, trying to make sense of the situation. "It looks like the wind is helping him," she called down to the earthbound guardians. With that, she was gently pushed backward by a breeze, further proving her point.

Jack stirred, causing everyone present to freeze. They let out a breath that none of them had even realized that they were holding when he simply stretched and rolled over.

"What do we do?" Bunny asked North quietly. He was scared to talk too loudly for fear of waking up Jack.

"I do not know!" North replied, lowering his voice as well, but only slightly. The loud sound about ten feet below him woke up Jack in an instant and he was soon floating in the air in the rafters again. Wind carefully lowered the chair to the ground and gave Jack's staff to him. Having the staff in his hands once again, he clutched it tightly, unwilling to let it go again.

"Wha- what do you want from me?" he stuttered, trying to seem confident. His eyes filled with pain when his gaze fell on Bunny. Bunny had been where it all had started, so now that he was strong enough to actually register everything, the voices returned.

 _He's just going to return you to Master. They just want to use you for your powers before giving you back to the torture. Don't even think about trusting any of them._

Jack gave a minuscule nod, but not small enough that it wasn't caught by Bunny, who was mildly confused, but filed the information away to think about later. For now, getting Jack to trust them was the most important thing.

"Jackie," he said softly. "We just want you to be safe. Nothing else." He said the last part in final voice.

Jack shook his head.

 _He's lying._ The voice hissed. _He wants to use you and then throw you out. Even Pitch will eventually get bored of you. I mean, look at you! Useless for everything except your powers, and you can barely even get that right most of the time!_

Agreeing with the voice, Jack voiced these objections to the previous statements. "No one wants nothing in exchange for everything!" He looked suspicious. "Stop trying to trick me. I won't do what you want!" He tone turned vehement toward the end.

 _That's it,_ the voice coaxed him. _Let them know how disobedient you are immediately. If they don't want you for even your powers, then maybe you will be able to escape. They'll give up eventually._

"Stop!" Jack suddenly screamed, clutching at his hair. "I don't care what you think!"

The guardians were understandably confused. They were in the middle of trying to formulate a response to Jack's previous statement when he started yelling, so they were unsure of what any of them could have possibly done to get such a violent reaction. "Jack," Tooth said gently. "None of us said anything. What can we do to help?"

"I wasn't talking to you!" Jack said, panting heavily. He then noticed a small open window on the other side of the room. "Wind," he whispered. Wind complied with his unspoken request and whisked him out of the window.

The guardians were speechless and left behind in North's workshop. Sandy created several signs flashing quickly above his head, and North responded. "I have no idea what he was talking about, but we appear to have another spirit hunt on our hands!" He held out his hands as if to give a physical representation of what he had just said.

Meanwhile, Jack had collapsed in a snowbank several hundred meters from the guardians. He lay there, trying to stop his heavy breathing. Not now, he thought. I will not have a panic attack in the middle of nowhere.

That was when the voice appeared yet again. _But you will. You will be so pathetic yet again. Why Master put up with you for so long..._ It trailed off as if in disappointment at Jack's behavior.

"Pitch wasn't nice. It's good that I'm away from him," Jack responded to the voice verbally, but his tone was questioning. What if Master is the only chance for companionship that I have? he thought. At least I knew what he wanted from me. With the guardians, I can't tell what they want from me. Master was honest with me at the very least.

 _Exactly!_ The voice exclaimed. _That is exactly what I was talking about! I mean, I wasn't actually talking, but close enough! Master is the only one who will accept you for you. He knows how to deal with your failures, unlike the guardians or anyone else!_

That was when a swirl of black sand appeared next to Jack, slowly forming a distinct shape, but Jack was too engrossed with his conversation to notice the black sand against the white snow.

An- I was thinking about having the voice be a side effect of Pitch imbuing Jack with his sand. What do you think? I'm still sorry about not updating!


	6. Chapter 6

_No one cares what you want._ The voice told him. _Even if you were possibly remotely useful, no one would want to help you. It takes too much effort to deal with your bratty behavior. Why would the Guardians take the time to figure out how to help you now? If they had actually cares about you, they would have done something by now! Master is the only one to help you. Ever. He healed you when you were about the die and-_

This was where Jack finally chose to cut into the voice's rant. "So what? I wouldn't have even been fatally injured if it weren't for him! "

The black sand swirling behind Jack was slowly starting to take the shape of a man. It wasn't Pitch, but during the many years of experimenting the two of them had found a way to make semi-sentient lifeforms. This particular one happened to be one of Pitch's favorites. It was particularly cruel to Jack, and Pitch was able to leave the punishment of the young winter spirit to the creation while being able to trust that the job would get done.

•••

The being had even been deemed worthy of a name. Pitch had at one point looked over at the tall, dark, humanoid being standing above a whimpering Jack Frost and smirked. "I think that I will call you Osud." His unforgiving gaze had turned to Jack. "Do you know what that means Pet?"

Jack had slowly shook his head, jarring several injuries. This had earned him a kick to his bruising side from Osud. "Answer you master out loud." It had told him in a low gravely voice that had Pitch grinning. "You have not become useless in that area as well?"

" No, " Jack had rasped. "I do not know what Osud means. "

He winced, curling in on himself as he was kicked again. "Call him by his proper title freak," Osud growled at him.

"I'm sorry Master" Jack said quietly, whimpering.

The shadow Lord smirked yet again. "Osud means doom. Do you know what language I got his name from?"

At a nudge to his injuries, Jack had said "No Master."

"Incompetent, " Pitch said dismissive. "Osud means Doom in Czech. I chose this name for him because of you." At this point he had called maliciously. "If you step even one toe out of line, if even a hair goes over the line I, your Master, have drawn, he shall being the doom to you! "

He burst out laughing as if he had said the funniest joke.

•••

 _Osud is literally better than you in every way possible,_ the voice reminded him. _You couldn't escape Master if you tried. At this point, Osud is probably just being cruel. Give you hope that you can be loved before reaffirming truth. You can never be loved. It is impossible for you to be happy. Pitch may have taught you that, but the Guardians are the ones who caused it._

The mention of Osud had Jack freezing in place. "Please don't mention him," he whispered, furtively glancing over over his shoulder and letting out a yelp of shock when he saw the large dark figure looming behind him, having finally formed out of the black sand that had previously been swirling, forming a stark contrast against the white snow, and that had gone completely unnoticed by Jack. Wind jerked him out of the way of Osud's first swipe, and he very nearly let out a cry of relief when he saw the Guardians coming over the snowbank, having been drawn to his location by his yelp.

"Jack!" Bunny yelled. "Get over here! We'll protect ya buddy!"

Jack was reminded of his previous conversation with the voice. Bunny and the other Guardians were not a better option than Osud and Pitch. They were even worse! He had no idea where he stood with them. At least with Master, he knew what was coming. There would be harsh punishments, but hopefully they would be slightly lessened due to the fact that he hadn't told the Guardians how to take off his collar.

He did have the knowledge, and it would have been possible with Sandy's golden sand, but in the event that he would be taken back to Pitch, he knew that the punishments would be hundreds of times worse if his collar was gone. It had taken several weeks of hard work on both of their parts to create the collar, and that was inevitable that he would go back to Pitch at some point in the near future so he had already decided against informing Sandy of that option even before they had taken him from Master.

After a split second of weighing his options, neither of them good, he decided that running from all parties involved was his best option. So that was what he did. He sprinted for a few hundred meters before a old injury in his leg suddenly flared and he collapsed.

Wind then picked him up and gently carried him away from Osud and the Guardians. A quick glance behind him showed that no one was pursuing him, though that was only because the Guardians had engaged the being made out of dark sand and a hint of ice in battle, distracting him.

The collar around Jack's neck flared, searing the skin below it. Idiot, the voice hissed.

"Shut up," he found himself muttering. "I know. Can you please _just_ not? Go away or something."

 _Oh, but I can't Jackie-boy!_ The voice sounded slightly too enthusiastic about that fact. _I am a part of you. Too much exposure to the dark stuff, you know? You are stuck with me until the end of time! And you don't even have the pleasure of escaping to other people. No one else is kind enough to put up with your stupid self! If only there was someone who could appropriate you, if only slightly... Oh wait! There is someone! And you are running from the one who is able to return you to him, you brat. Quit this tantrum right now. If you go back now, there is the chance that he'll actually take you!_

"Slow down Wind," Jack called out, shocked at a sudden halt and at the lack of wind in his face.


End file.
